The Foster Experience
by SuGaRnSpIcE4222
Summary: Adopting a child has never been truly easy; so what is it that makes Casey and John Munch believe being a foster parent to two teenage girls is going to be any easier?
1. Newbies

_A/N: I do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with Law and Order: SVU. The only characters I own are those that I have clearly made up. _

_Summary: Adopting a child is never easy; so what made John and Casey Munch think Fostering a child (let alone two teenage girls!) would be any easier? _

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**Exile: "The act of (involuntarily) expelling a person from their native land"**

It was the only term to describe just how my identical twin sister and I might feel; after all, we had just been tossed into Snow Hell, New York without so much as a two day warning. I curled into a tight ball on the lazy boy chair, pretending to thoroughly read the latest issue of 'People' magazine as random thoughts entered and then quickly left my mind. How could Clara have thought _this_ would be the best placement for us?! Had she truly gone off her old-lady rocker this time? She's been our social worker for like, a billion years, and the thought that two, warm blooded (despite the various arguments) teenagers, who were already adapted to the heat and Sun of California, might not care too much for the slushy white snow of New York never once crossed her mind? Anger coursed through my veins hot and steamy despite the clear chill that was slyly seeping its way through the cracks in the window beside my chair. I hated the thought of not being in California anymore. I gave a quick glance down at my skin; not even a full day yet and already it was looking more alabaster than it had been at the time of my birth.

Using the tip of my finger, I quickly flipped the page of my magazine; after all, ten minutes was more than ample time to have read the fruity little stories compiled onto this set of two pages. I really don't understand magazines like this; why would anybody trouble themselves so much just to see what kind of baby blankets Ana Ortiz picked out for the newest arrival in her life? Bo-ring! Seriously, people, get with the program. We have suicide bombers every day in the Middle Eastern part of this world and yet Brad and Angie are still the most important gossip in your life? Okay, that makes sense. I rolled my eyes without really noticing it and let out a short sigh.

I could feel a familiar queasy, knotted feeling in the pit of my stomach, which alerted my nervous system to be on its best look out: I was homesick, and I knew it. Homesick for what, though? I have my sister here, and she's the only real family that I've ever had. Homesick for California, maybe? For Clara? I couldn't quite wrap my finger about it, but none the less I could feel the threat of warm, liquid tears brim at the shallow surface of my inner eye-lids. I blinked twice, hoping to rid myself of the tears before the threat turned into something more, but to no avail. So, instead, I quickly closed the magazine I'd been using as no more than a cover to keep from talking to my new foster parents, and stood up.

"I'm going to bed," I announced, stretching as though my body were exhausted from simply sitting around. I even feigned a yawn, which was pretty impressive if I do say so myself.

"Alright, do you need fresh linens or anything?" Casey asked, looking up briefly from her the mile-high stack of case files on her lap.

"No, I'm good, thanks" I said, turning to retreat safely to the confines of mine and my sister's new room.

"Hold on," Munch put a reserving hand in the air. "Don't forget that tomorrow you and Emily need to meet us at the precinct. You know where that is?"

"Yes," I nodded; No. But I can read a map.

"Alright, good. Maybe when you get there we can go over all the hip new gossip out these days; I myself am partial to N'Sync, but I'm open to other celebs; I'm a pretty open minded guy," Munch added, smirking at the look on Casey's face, daring to call his bluff.

"Hate to burst your bubble, but N'Sync split up years ago," I commented before swiftly turning and heading to the room down the hall and to the right. I could hear an outburst of laughter from Casey as I closed the door; I hadn't made a great attempt at being funny, so I wasn't quite sure what, exactly, she found so amusing, but nonetheless she was laughing.

"Hey Vannah," Emily looked up at me from her latest book of poetry and flashed a small, reassuring smile. 'Vannah' had always been my nickname; short of Savannah, though not by much.

"Hey Em," I sighed resignedly and tossed my current clothes carelessly on the floor, replacing them with a cottony warm pair of grey sweat pants and a plain red hooded sweatshirt. I must say I'm still not used to dressing like an Eskimo for bed, and the bulk of my chosen night clothes were beginning to irk me.

"So how was 'quiet' time?" Em asked me, giggling smugly. Damn her and her ability to feign an illness; tomorrow it's my turn. If I could just get the watts down pat on the light bulbs so I could be sure my fever doesn't become dangerously high, like 126 or something….

"How do you _think_ quiet time went?" I asked, raising a conspicuous eyebrow in the air at her. She's no bonehead; she knows just how much I hate 'family togetherness' time. I don't bond with people, ever, unless it's my sister. People were uncategoricaly known for abandonment; my parents, my grandparents, my uncle… shoot, half of California had abandoned my sister and I, always giving us back to the state when they'd had enough of us or when we'd grown out of the 'cute' phases of the ages they liked.

"Tomorrow is my turn," she sighed and lowered her gaze back to the words in her book, shifting tensely on the bed at the mere thought of bonding time with the newbies. Newbies was our word for our foster parents; you see, anyone who had a child already didn't harbor foster children in their home (unless of course they were hard up for cash). And generally, those who became foster parents never really became adoptive parents…at least not to us, anyways.

"It won't be so bad," I offered, hoping to be of some comfort. "Just bring your book out there with you and pretend to read. Or, well, in your case, actually read," I suggested. It wasn't that I minded reading, but I enjoyed the news more. I loved putting faces to names without actually having to do the work myself. "Besides, I'll be there with you; and once they think they've gotten to know us they'll completely forget about quiet bonding time and go back to their daily routines of boring mushy gushiness" I smirked.

Emily laughed quietly at this and closed her book, leaving a book mark to keep watch over her place. "You're not going to ditch me?" she asked, almost pleadingly with her eyes.

"Naw, I can handle another night. Besides, it's better to feign illness when they've gone to completely ignoring us. I don't think they really bought your stomach bit," I smiled, now tossing today's worn clothes in the dirty hamper.

"Oh well" Emily laughed, turning the knob on her lamp so that the light emanating from ceased. "Goodnight"

"Goodnight," I yawned; this one was real, and I was suddenly aware of how truly tired I was the minute my head hit the cushiony pillow.

"Oh, and Vannah?" Emily said in more of a question than a statement

"Yeah?" I asked, turning so that I was facing towards her bed.

"Thanks," she said, yawning and then flipping over.

"Welcome," I replied, yawning once more (damn contagious yawns), and then flipping to face the icy window. It was here that I let my tears freely flow down my eyes, allowing myself to secretly cry myself to sleep.


	2. You've gotta be kidding me, right?

_Thanks for the reviews! They're greatly appreciated!! Sorry its been so long since an update; along with this I'm writing another one, and I've been drawn into my books lately…haha, I promise to keep it going, though! Warning, following chapter from Episode 'Scavenger' in 2004; if you've never seen it, don't worry, the 'surprise' of the episode (if you will) isn't given away here, but may be in later chapters. If that does happen I WILL post a warning on that chapter, as well. _

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Okay, so I was right; school here in Snow Hell? It sucks. Yes, most definitely sucks. The other students stared at me and Em like we were goldfish. Seriously, now I understand how Bella and Edward from Twilight felt. Or like how a goldfish feels swimming around in that cramped little bowl. The streets of New York were crowded, and I bumped into a few unusually angry people as Em and I headed to the precinct. The doors were big and already I felt important coming to this place. Or like I was in trouble for something. Sighing, I reached out and grabbed the bronze door handle, pulling the door towards me; it was heavier than your average door, but then, the doors to most important places usually are.

"You ready to go in?" Em asked me, holding her breath.

"Can't be much worse than school," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. Seriously, I didn't learn anything today anyways. Maybe I won't go back; maybe I'll just join the circus.

"Yeah, I guess that's true" Em shrugged and walked in ahead of me. She stopped briefly at the snack cart oddly placed in the middle of the walk way and her eyes glazed over the various items for sale.

"No cash anyways, come on, Em," I coaxed her away by tugging on the loop of her backpack and pointed to two double, less important looking doors. "Special Victim's Unit"

"Looks Cozy, not" Em tossed her hair to the side and rolled her eyes. "Lets hang out with the snack cart guy, he looks cool!"

I looked the guy working the snack cart up and down; he had barbell pierced straight through his eyebrow, one in his nose, and another in his lips. His hair was bleached and spiked so high, and with so much gel, I highly doubt it'll ever move again. And, to top it off, he had a tattoo wrapping around his left forearm 'Prinse.' "Yeah, he can't even get the spelling of his tattoo right, he seems like a nice old fellow to hang out with," I rolled my eyes at her. "I'd rather hang out with stretch and his sadomasochistic buddies. Okay, so I was probably exaggerating a little. Ok, a lot.

When I didn't see Em budge I groaned and grabbed her by the wrist, dragging in her inside through the two wooden framed doors. "Yo, we're lookin' for John Munch," I stopped the first person I could find. He was bald and plump where it counted. He looked serious, like an old drill sergeant or something.

"Yo, me too," he retorted. "My name is Captain Cragen, and you two must be Emily and Savannah"

"You sure you're not Ms. Cleo?" I joked; he didn't laugh. Okay, tough crowd.

"John's desk is right over there; you guys can go have a seat and I'll call Casey and let her know you're here," Cragen said, shoving his paperwork under his arm.

I looked up at him; if he called Casey she'd come down here. And if she came down here she'd ask Em and I how school was a million different ways with a zillion different questions. No thanks. "Could you hold off on that? We're kind of hungry, I think Em and I were gonna go to the snack cart…"

"But I thought you said"- Em piped in until I kindly shoved my elbow into her side.

"Never mind what I said before," I whispered through gritted teeth. Never mind Piercing Prinse, you do look like a delightful person to interact with. At least you're probably not too intelligent, so I can probably get you with a few good riddles or something.

I turned on my heels before this Cragen guy could (or would) say anything else, and headed to the snack cart, motioning for my sister to follow me.

"What's up with that?" Em asked as we took a seat a few feet from the snack cart (where the Prinse was so discreetly playing with his nasal piercing…yeah, that's delectable.)

"I just didn't feel like answering her questions about school is all," I nodded my head and sipped on the bottle of water we'd purchased to share. Hey, it was all we could afford even after we put our money together.

"Who says she plans on asking us any questions?" Em challenged, throwing a glance in my direction.

"If she's any normal Newbie she will," I reminded her, my thoughts drifting off to every other foster parent we'd encountered in all our years in the system.

"I guess you're right," she relented. "Ya know why do they even care how school went? It's not like we're going to be there long anyways."

"Aint that the truth," I muttered, tossing the bottle of water her way. I fidgeted with the ring around my finger and then gave up and moved to the locket around my neck; the locket, in all his heart shaped, antique glory, was the only thing I'd ever been given from my mother. Even put together Em and I had no photos, no letters, and no old clothes from her. There was no money, nothing truly personal for us to hold on to, to savor. Em got a bracelet, I got a locket, and that was it. I opened it and frowned at the empty space where a picture should be. I don't remember ever having a picture to put in here, not even of my twin and I."

"I wonder what she was like," Em thought aloud, noticing me tracing my finger along the locket.

"I don't know; who cares though, it's not like she cared about us anyways," I bitterly replied, quickly closing out the depths of the locket.

"You never know!" Em argued, "Maybe she just couldn't keep us." Em always liked to believe that it was some outside force that prevented our parents from keeping us. Me, personally, I believe we were an unexpected accident of nature and they simply dealt with the problem when we came along.

"Yeah, Em, you never know," I sighed. Why should I wreck whatever false hope she had that helped her sleep at night? I glanced up quickly to see a twig like figure with dark eyes and dark rimmed glasses, dressed in a suit, coming towards us. "Munch" I addressed him first.

"Savannah, Emily, how was your first day of school?" he asked, feigning interest.

"You make it sound like we're coming in from our first day of kindergarten," I pointed out, standing up from the bench with Em following quickly in suit. "It's like every other high school we've been to"

"So good, I presume?" Munch smirked; he was playing coy, now. He knew we didn't want to go to school this morning. He was the one that informed Casey my temperature was 126 degrees and suggested an ice bath. Ass.

"Lets just say I enjoyed the N'Sync break up more," I replied in a cheery voice.

"Sounds like you had a good day," Munch nodded, placing one hand on my back and one hand on Em's as he lead us back through the wooden framed doors. "Cragen this is"-

"We've already met. They're delightful, I'm sure"

"No they're not, they're just like me" Munch glanced down at both me and Em with a smile and winked. Seriously, who winks these days?

"God helps us all then," a light haired brunette muttered without even looking up from the file on her desk.

"I'll have you know the world would be lucky to have more me's running around," Munch said, and I followed every movement he made; first to the coffee pot, then to his desk, then he shuffled through some files. I watched as he slid his slender fingers around the handle of the porcelain mug and lifted it to his lips, enveloping the edge just enough to sip the hot java. He looked stress, almost worried about something. Before I could observe anymore, though, the brunette came to a stop before Em and I.

"Hey, I'm Olivia. I work with this cynical jerk here," she smiled. "I promise, we're not all crazy."

"I'm not crazy, I just have opposing views!" Munch defended, raising the hand holding his coffee mug up for emphasis.

"Right," Olivia nodded. "Here's my card, if you ever need anything give me a call," she offered.

"Thanks," I clutched the card in my hand, stared down at it as if I were actually considering the idea for a minute and then shoved it thoughtfully into my pocket. I looked up again, this time just in time to see Casey just outside the double doors, heading our way. She had on a pale blue shirt over her black slacks, and in her arms she had the matching black suit jacket.

"Hey girls, how was school?" she called the minute she had the door open, even just a crack.

"Just dandy," I told her with a sigh. Please leave it at that, please.

"Make any friends?"

Why couldn't she just leave it at that? It's not like I've asked for much; just corn with dinner the other night.

"Tons," I muttered. Alright, now she couldn't have any more questions. I diverted my attention back to Munch who was now flipping nervously through one of the files on his desk.

"Listen," he began, "there's this case I'm working on. The perp has been collecting victims and then leading us little puzzles for us to solve. It's going to have me busy for a while," he said, as if we'd care. "Casey will be with you guys though"

"Okay," Em nodded at him. Simple as that, his absence didn't affect us.

"Well now wait," Munch began, eyeing the two of us, "with this creep on the loose I don't want you two out late, or even alone for that matter. There's no telling what kinds of things this guy could do, or the kind of information he could easily dig up."

"What are you getting at?" I narrowed my eyes down at him.

"This guy is dangerous, that much we know," Munch began. It took him a murder to figure this out? Did he get his badge from the Cracker Jack box? Damn box and its surprises… "We don't know exactly WHAT he's capable of, though"

"Obviously murder" I muttered under my breath.

"Right; what I mean to say is we don't know if he's the vindictive type. Judging by the way he's leaving us clues to find his next victims the shrink thinks he may be after attention, but if we start catching up with him he may start to get a little afraid and try something rash. Bottom line, it wouldn't be the first time a perp has gone after us or our families. I want to make sure you two are safe," Munch said with the utmost sincerity in his voice.

My jaw dropped and I glanced at the dazed, worried sentiment in my sister's eyes. "You're joking, right?" I blinked.

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_This chapter is partially from 'Scavenger,' from a 2004 episode… and a portion of the rest of this story will involve some of that plot theme. You can go to IMDB or for a synopsis of this episode if you've never seen it before. Be aware though that I'm not going to go directly from that episode, but rather twist it to make it work for the story. _

_Thanks for reading guys! _


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